Participles

What are participles? A present participle is a form of a verb ending with ’-ing’ → facing A past participle is often a form of a verb ending with ’-ed’ → worked Many common past participles do not end in ’-ed’ (e.g. done, driven, known) A past participle can also be used after ‘having’ → having worked, having done Writing Tip Using participles enables you to produce sophisticated sentences that connect important pieces of information. This can be more effective than writing short simple sentences or linking these using simple conjunctions such as ‘and’ or ‘because’. Here are some of the ways you can use participles: 1 To describe causes and results The country’s car industry was obliged to restructure in the 1990s because it faced the effects of a recession. → Facing the effects of a recession in the early 1990s, the country’s car industry was obliged to restructure. 2 To give important additional information Exports grew over the next few years. They were driven by an international marketing campaign.